Where every day in the kitchen is an adventure!

Recipes

Everyone loves Char Siu – or Chinese BBQ pork as it’s probably more well known around Australia. Seen hanging from hooks in Chinese takeaway shops glass displays, dripping with sweet, sticky maltose, char siu truly is an iconic Cantonese dish. Char siu is so beloved, it’s easy to see how Char Siu Bao (fluffy white steamed Chinese barbecue pork buns) is one of the most popular items to be ordered at yum cha around the world today.

Simply empty 1 x 395 gram can of (full fat) condensed milk into a large bowl and sift over 2.5-3 cups of milk powder (until you reach a nice dough consistency). If you add too much milk powder by accident, add water 1 tsp at a time until you get back to the consistency that you want. You’re looking for a play-dough type feel. Roll into balls and dip into white sugar and you’re done! If you want to get even more fancy, add a few drops of flavouring/colouring to the condensed milk prior to adding the powder and mix thoroughly to combine.

It’s been a while between recipe posts! So what better reason to kick back in the kitchen and start creating some cooling down treats other than this intense heat Sydney has been having lately. And what better time to make a bunch of pink recipes other in October for Breast Cancer Awareness?

Did you know that breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in Australia? It is also the second most common cancer to cause death in women after lung cancer (source: Cancer Council Australia). Breast cancer is so common in Australia it is difficult to escape having a close relative or knowing of a friend who has a close relative who has suffered from this awful disease. As ladies it’s definitely something we all need to watch out for ourselves by doing regular checks at home as well as regular check-ups at the doctor’s. For info about checking yourself out at home, visit this link here.

You know me and I love simple, so what’s more simple than recipes with only two ingredients that’s easy to put together? All you need is a blender/food processor, some yoghurt, bananas, milk and you’re set to make both of these cool-down treats.

Whizz until creamy and soft serve-like (by the way, if you haven’t tried making this at home before, you are missing out! It’s the perfect vegan ice-cream — super creamy and totally versatile!)

Measure out one cup of strawberry yoghurt and spoon into the food processor. Whizz for another 20 seconds or until fully combined.

Straight from the food processor, it has the thick, creamy consistency of soft serve. It was a rather hot day that I made this on so it was even a tiny bit softer than this, so I decided to pop it into the freezer to harden up a bit (but of course it’s still enjoyable at this stage!)

And here you go, post freezer!

Two-Ingredient Berry Banana Froyo

Author: CookingCrusade.comMakes: 3-4 servings of frozen yoghurtTime to prepare: Bananas need to be frozen overnight, but this takes about 10 minutes to put together. Easy!

Berry Banana Froyo

3-4 ripe bananas

1 cup strawberry yoghurt (I used SKI Strawberry Yoghurt)

optional: a few drops of rose pink food colouring to make it extra pink! or three hulled strawberries if you have them would work well too!

Equipment needed: freezer, food processor

Steps

Peel, chop and freeze bananas in ziplock bags overnight.

Remove bananas from the freezer and place in processor bowl. Process until creamy.

Add the strawberry yoghurt and pulse for 20 seconds until well combined. Serve as soft serve creamy consistency or pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze for up to 6 hours to harden to scoopable consistency. Serve with sprinkles! 😉

This is one of those great, budget-friendly recipes that’s easy to throw together from cheap ingredients that I often have in the fridge/pantry. You could also try throwing in extra herbs or veggies you have on-hand to mix things up a little – peas, corn, grated zucchini, a finely diced onion. Whatever you have on hand, the most basic version of this recipe is guaranteed to satisfy.

These patties go great with homemade roasted tomato sauce, sweet chilli or even a garlicky cucumber-yoghurt sauce. I usually serve them with a side salad or a side of steamed or roasted veggies.

These are pretty much pretty impossible to stuff up. Microwave the sweet potato, mash, add tuna, eggs and seasoning. Shape into patties and bake until set and you’re all done!

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Place the cubed sweet potato in a large mixing bowl and cover with boiling (or hot from the tap) water.

Microwave for 10-15 minutes on high, or until fork tender enough to mash.

Remove from the microwave, drain and allow to cool. Mash with a potato masher/fork and add tuna. Mix well.

Crack three eggs into a jug and season with the salt and pepper.

Pour egg mixture into sweet potato and tuna mixture and stir well with a wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed.

Using wet hands, shape sweet potato mixture into patties (use about enough mixture to fit in the palm of your hand per patty to make 12, or you could make smaller ones if you prefer, just bake them for a bit less.)

Bake patties in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until well browned and completely cooked through.

I recently took part in the Sweet Swap, a fun idea for bloggers to raise money and share delicious treats by two clever cookies, Sara from BellyRumbles and Amanda from ChewTown. The basic idea is that you sign up for $6 (which goes to a good cause) and then get sent three other blogger’s names to send homemade sweets to. You sent your treats out in the mail and then wait patiently for three boxes of deliciousness to come your way.

It was tough coming up with what to make. I had lots and lots of ideas and also wanted to make something the bloggers I would be sending it to would enjoy! Finally I settled on this Peanut Butter fudge and thought I’d add a cup of chocolate chips, because hey who doesn’t like peanut butter and chocolate?

I found this great simple recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker and then I was ready to go!

Alana Bread’s super delicious winter fudge and a jar of dulce de leche. YUMmmmm. I loved the packaging as well! You can check out her recipes for these lovely treats here.

I really loved these gorgeous little gluten free raspberry and almond chocolates from Chomp Chomp as well (recipe here!)

It was so fun getting to send out cute little packages in the mail and so exciting to receive ones back! It was also great seeing everyone making their treats on Instagram and wondering who was sending you what mystery sweet. Its definitely something I’d like to do again! I’m already thinking about new treats to make!

I was very honoured to be invited along to a fun cooking competition by Australian Macadamias where I and a bunch of fun-loving food bloggers challenged our cooking skills alongside celebrity chefs Colin Fassnidge and Eamon Sullivan. Colin and Eamon demonstrated two of their fabulous macadamia recipes and then us bloggers hit the kitchen in pairs to cook their recipes to be judged by their makers!

Getting some help from Eamon and Colin on the cooking front!(Photo by Lee Nutter/Tilt Vision from the Aus Macadamia Facebook page.)

Eamon and Colin were very lovely, dropping by everyone’s cooking stations to help stir soups, mix granola or give tips all evening.

I’d actually never eaten granola before. But this was pretty damned good granola – I took a tonne home and managed to make it last for a good while with tonnes of fruit and yoghurt. While I absolutely loved this recipe, keep in mind that it is pretty high in sugar and fat, so while it’s chock full of good things like nuts, seeds and oats, I probably wouldn’t classify it as everyday healthy breakfast food. More like a weekend breakfast treat, but a very enjoyable one!

Macadamia Granola

Author: Eamon SullivanServes: 3

Eamon Sullivan’s Macadamia Granola

300g demerara sugar

188ml honey

1/2 cup golden syrup

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

165g butter

270g dessicated coconut

150g pecans

300g macadamias (mix of whole and cut)

150g pumpkin seeds

375g rolled oats

127ml sunflower oil

1 1/2 zest of one orange

Equipment needed: Small saucepan, large bowl, baking sheet.

Steps

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Melt sugar, honey and golden syrup.

Add butter to sugar syrup.

Mix all nuts, oil and zest in a large bowl and pour over butter/sugar syrup and mix through thoroughly.

Bake on a lined tray in the oven for twenty minutes, turning 4-8 times to make sure the mixture browns evenly and goes crunchy (turn less times for bigger chunks).

Serve with yoghurt and/or milk.

To turn this granola into a muesli bar, turn once or twice in the oven then slice while hot.

I’d never actually seen Jerusalem artichokes before the cooking competition either. I actually even asked Colin where the Jerusalem artichokes WERE because I mistook the ones in my fridge as ginger (how embarrassing!!).

Turns out they make a gorgeously flavoursome soup that I can’t wait to replicate at home! I also love Colin’s idea of using macadamias to thicken soup — a method I’ve heard some vegan chefs use.

Macadamia and Artichoke Soup

Author: Colin FassnidgeServes: 3

Colin Fassnidge’s Macadamia and Artichoke Soup

1 1/2 white onion

4 1/2 garlic cloves

450g Jerusalem artichokes

225g cracked macadamia nuts

750ml chicken stock

75ml white wine

300ml cream

Salt and pepper to season

Garnish

30g sliced macadamia nuts

75g picked crab

3 julienne sorrel leaves

Extra virgin olive oil to garnish

Lemon juice to taste, roughly half a lemon

Equipment needed: Chopping board, knife, large pot, hand blender

Steps

Sweat onions and garlic.

Add peeled artichokes and cracked nuts.

Add white wine and boil.

Add stock and cream and cook until soft and then pass or blend.

Season with salt, pepper and add lemon juice to taste.

Garnish with crab, sliced nuts and sorrel leaves.

Tip from Colin Fassnidge: To stop the artichokes from going brown, peel them and put them in lemon water first.

(Photo by Lee Nutter/Tilt Vision from the Aus Macadamia Facebook page.)
A lovely bunch of bloggers to cook with!

I absolutely love doughnuts. I mean, who doesn’t? As a child, they were never something that my parents indulged in frequently but on the rare occasion, my mum would buy the cinnamon ones from Coles where I developed the unsurprising power to make a good handful disappear in not much time at all.

I was pretty excited to pick up a doughnut pan to give baked cake style doughnuts a try and as usual can’t stop of thinking of things to try. I’m thinking dulce de leche swirls, pine nuts, coconut, white chocolate & macadamia with lime or even dark chocolate with some grated orange zest?

Mixing wet ingredients with dry to form the batter.

Spoon doughnut batter into tin and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

And now for the fun part, coating them in sugary goodness!

You can try coating them in a simple glaze (Krispy Kreme style).

Or try the classic cinnamon doughnut (toss them in a mixture of caster sugar with a few dashes of ground cinnamon).

Basic Doughnuts

1/2 a cup milk (I used soy milk but feel free to use whatever you have on hand)

1 tablespoon vinegar (to sour your milk to turn it into buttermilk. I’ve only successfully used this with cow and soy milk, so unsure of results on almond, rice, etc. If you just have those on hand, I would recommend skipping the vinegar step.) If you have buttermilk on hand, you could of course use this in place of the milk/vinegar mixture.

1 egg

1 tablespoon oil (or melted butter or vegan butter such as Nutellex. I used macadamia oil, but you could use another mild flavoured oil such as soy bean or rice bran)

a pinch of salt

a pinch of nutmeg (optional)

Simple glaze

1 tablespoon of butter, melted (I used Nutellex)

1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon of milk of choice, or water

Mix all ingredients together until it forms a thin icing. If you prefer a thicker consistency, add more sifted icing sugar. For a thinner consistency, add more milk/water. Dip (or double dip!) doughnuts into glaze and place on a plate and allow the icing to set.

Cinnamon sugar

2 tablespoons of butter, melted (I used Nutellex)

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Brush cooled doughnuts with melted butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and dip in doughnuts. Serve.

Equipment needed: one bowl, one wooden spoon and one doughnut pan (I used a six doughnut pan by Wilton)

Steps

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and grease doughnut pan so it is ready for the batter (I used oil, you could use melted butter/non dairy spread.)

Sift flour into your bowl and add sugar, salt and nutmeg if using.

In a small jug, add your milk of choice, then vinegar and allow to stand for about 20-30 seconds. Crack egg in and beat into milk mixture. Add oil/melted butter to milk mixture.

About Me

Hi! I'm Christine - I'm a Sydney based chef student by day & food blogger by night. I love learning about food every single day and share my adventures with you here. Thanks for reading! You can contact me on christine@cookingcrusade.com - I'd love to hear from you!